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AnnouncementsArticles of interest A report from the Peru OLPC deploymentFor those in a hurry, the Economist has a brief and mostly negative summary of a report on the benefits of the One Laptop Per Child program in Peru. "An evaluation of the laptop programme by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) found that the children receiving the computers did not show any improvement in maths or reading. Nor did it find evidence that access to a laptop increased motivation, or time devoted to homework or reading."For those with more time, the actual report is more nuanced. "Results indicate limited effects on academic achievement but positive impacts on cognitive skills and competences related to computer use. Cognitive abilities may arise through using the programs included in the laptops, given that they are aimed at improving thinking processes. However, to improve learning in Math and Language, there is a need for high-quality instruction. From previous studies, this does not seem the norm in public schools in Peru, where much rote learning takes place."
Linux for Your Electric Car: Techies Create Open Source EVs (txchnologist)The Tumanako Project aims to provide open hardware and software to drive and recharge electric vehicles. Author Morgen E. Peck covers the project and talks with developer Philip Court. "The main offering of the Tumanako project is a drive package and inverter for a 200kW induction motor. This includes all of the software necessary to take a “go” command from a driver and the calculations for how much power to feed to the motor. Court says his code works but will not be fully open source — meaning there are still snippets of proprietary code — for another 6 months to a year."
AOL Unloads Patents to Microsoft (Wall Street Journal)The Wall Street Journal is running a short article about a patent deal between AOL and Microsoft. "AOL Inc. agreed Monday to sell more than 800 patents and related products to Microsoft Corp. for $1.1 billion, as the struggling online company looks to raise fresh cash while fighting a boardroom showdown with an activist shareholder." (Thanks to Martin Jeppesen)Update: this article has more information, including a list of some of the patents involved.
FSFE Newsletter - April 2012The April edition of the Free Software Foundation Europe Newsletter looks at projects and initiatives, warns European Parliament staff not to accept gifts from Microsoft, welcomes Nikos Roussos from Greece as a member of the Fellowship, and covers several additional topics.
New Books Build Awesome Command-Line Applications in Ruby--New from Pragmatic BookshelfPragmatic Bookshelf has released "Build Awesome Command-Line Applications in Ruby" by David Bryant Copeland.
Upcoming Events Events: April 12, 2012 to June 11, 2012The following event listing is taken from the LWN.net Calendar.
If your event does not appear here, please tell us about it.
Page editor: Rebecca Sobol |
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